Having used only six starting pitchers all season long, the Atlanta Braves did not expect to be in the market for rotation help at the trade deadline, but that has changed quickly in the past week, first with Paul Maholm suffering a sprained wrist, and then with Tim Hudson breaking his ankle Wednesday night on a play that nobody wants to see replays of ever again.

Kris Medlen, Mike Minor, and Julio Teheran have been joined in the Atlanta rotation for now by 22-year-old lefthander Alex Wood, who struggled against the New York Mets on Thursday, giving up four runs in 4 1/3 innings. Wood is expected to get another start on Tuesday at Colorado, one day after Hudson's fill-in, Brandon Beachy, makes his return to the majors from Tommy John surgery.

Jake Peavy is among highly sought starting pitchers available in a thin marketplace. (AP Photo)

In the short term, that plan works, but heading toward the playoffs, the Braves, who have an eight-game lead in the National League East, may want to add a veteran to a rotation whose elder statesman now is the 27-year-old Medlen.

The Journal-Constitution speculated, wisely, that if the Braves pursue a trade rather than internal options, playoff experience would be important, given that Medlen is Atlanta's only healthy starter with any playoff experience, that being one game last year. Jake Peavy has made two career playoff starts, losing both, while Ervin Santana is 0-1 in his two starts—the Royals' righthander also made six playoff relief appearances during his time with the Angels.

Peavy figures to be pursued heavily by several teams, as should Santana if the Royals do finally decide to trade him. Kyle Lohse, who has had a brilliant July for the last-place Milwaukee Brewers and has pitched in the playoffs for Minnesota, Philadelphia, and St. Louis, would make a lot of sense, but Fox Sports reported that the righthander is unlikely to be traded.

Getting involved in a bidding war over pitchers with fleeting postseason experience hardly seems to matter anyway, given that as soon as Minor and Teheran step onto the mound in October, they will immediately become pitchers with fleeting postseason experience themselves. The Giants won the World Series last year with experienced playoff pitchers -- experience gained during San Francisco's 2010 title run, when the starting pitchers used during the World Series were four men who entered that year with zero career playoff appearances.

Peavy or Santana would help the Braves, but because they are good pitchers, not because they have worked in October, where neither has actually been much good. The question is whether the upgrade would be worth the required price, and if the answer to that question is no, Wren may want to give a thought—strange as it may sound—to Joe Blanton.

Dropped this week from the Angels' rotation, Blanton is 2-13 with a 5.66 ERA and has given up 24 home runs in 116 innings. The longball has been his bugaboo for years, but Blanton could benefit from a move not only to the National League, but to a ballpark in Atlanta which is tied for the ninth fewest home runs in the majors this season. Blanton has pitched at Turner Field eight times in his career, and the only places he has posted a lower WHIP than his 1.19 there—granted, it's a small sample size—are Houston, the old Yankee Stadium, and the football stadium where the Marlins used to play.

At the age of 32, it's reasonable to believe that Blanton still has something in the tank and could get back to being the back-end starter for a contender that he has been in the past. There is nothing in his PitchF/X data that suggests he is much diffferent from the pitcher he has been since 2007. If the price is too high for the hottest pitchers on the hot stove, Blanton could wind up being the Braves' best bet for a low buy-in.